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Bioactive Nanostructures for Regeneration
Author(s) -
Stupp Sam
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.69.3
Subject(s) - regeneration (biology) , nanofiber , nanotechnology , nanostructure , intracellular , stem cell , receptor , microbiology and biotechnology , angiogenesis , nervous system , chemistry , neuroscience , biophysics , biology , materials science , biochemistry , cancer research
Bioactive nanostructures molecularly crafted to signal cells or deliver cargo to specific cells have great potential to regenerate tissues and cure disease. The chemistry of such nanostructures should allow them to interact specifically with cell receptors or intracellular structures. Ideally, they should also disintegrate into nutrients within an appropriate time frame. The organization of these nanostructures at larger length scales comparable to cells and large colonies of cells will also be critical for their function. Our laboratory has developed an extensive family of amphiphilic molecules that self‐assemble into supramolecular nanofibers with the capacity to display a large diversity of signals to cells 1‐5 . Using both polymers and small molecules we have also developed macroscopic constructs that can organize or confine cells in three dimensions. This lecture will illustrate the use of these systems to regenerate axons in the central nervous system for spinal cord injuries, to promote angiogenesis in cardiovascular therapies, induce bone formation, and mediate the differentiation of stem cells.